Sights and Sounds
The Night They Banned the Song: How a Highlife Guitar Felled a General and Renamed an Airport
Let me tell you about the most dangerous pop song in West African history. It wasn’t a protest anthem. It wasn’t a political rallying cry.
It was a gentle, hypnotic tune about a boy and his guitar, a melody so sweet it supposedly drifted into the mind of its creator from a spirit on a lonely Lagos beach.
And yet, for a brief and violent moment in 1967, the government of Ghana treated that song like an enemy battalion. They banned it from the airwaves. They hunted its echoes in dance halls. They tried to scrub it from the national memory.
Why? Because they believed a guitar riff had the power to bring down a regime.
This week, Ghana did something that sounds, on paper, like the most boring bureaucratic exercise imaginable.
They changed the name of the country’s main airport. Out goes Kotoka International Airport. In comes Accra International Airport. Just a new sign, right? A new letterhead for the immigration officers?
To understand why this name change matters—why it carries the weight of a country’s unresolved argument with itself—you have to go back to that banned song.
You have to understand the man whose name is being scrubbed from the arrivals hall, and the strange, musical conspiracy that ended his life.
The Hero, The Villain, and the Man on the Beach
General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka is a ghost who haunts modern Ghana. You can ask ten people about him and get ten different answers. In 1966, he was the soldier who led the coup that toppled Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s founding father and the great hope of African liberation.
To some, Kotoka was a liberator who saved Ghana from a dictator. To others, he was the man who broke the dream, who handed the country over to a future of instability.
Either way, he was the man in charge. And a year later, a group of junior officers decided he had to go.
They planned their attack. They chose a codename for their mission. In military history, you expect codenames to be things like “Desert Storm” or “Operation Thunderbolt.” Things that sound tough. Things that sound like victory.
@wearevinylplus Ghana’s airport name change has roots in something unexpected: music. A highlife hit became the soundtrack to one of the biggest political incidents in Ghana’s history Decades later, that musical ripple is still echoing. #ForTheNow #africanpolitics ♬ original sound – wearevinylplus
These young soldiers, likely with the radio crackling in their barracks, picked something else. They named their plot Operation Guitar Boy.
They named it after a song.
The Soundtrack of the Barracks
In 1966, a Nigerian highlife legend named Sir Victor Uwaifo released a track that would define an era. Guitar Boy was pure magic. It wasn’t just a hit; it was the sound of West Africa letting its hair down. That guitar line was everywhere.
It spilled out of the taxis crawling through Accra’s traffic. It floated from the palm-wine bars. It whistled from the lips of street vendors.
Uwaifo himself claimed the melody wasn’t entirely his own. He said a mermaid—a Mammy Wata figure—appeared to him on a beach in Lagos and gifted him the tune.
It was folklore set to music. It had nothing to do with politics. It had everything to do with the spirit of the moment.
And that spirit had seeped into the army barracks. When those young lieutenants dreamed of overthrowing a general, the song in their heads wasn’t a military march. It was Guitar Boy. They weren’t being poetic. They were just men of their time, using the language of their time to describe their ambition.
The plot failed. Kotoka was killed during the attempt at the Flamingo Nightclub in Accra. But when the government pieced together the conspiracy, they didn’t just see the guns and the plans. They saw the name. They saw the cultural infection.
Their response was to declare war on a song.
The Weapon Was a Melody
Guitar Boy was banned in Ghana.
Think about that for a second. Not a subversive text. Not a radical pamphlet. A highlife record. The state decided that this piece of art was so intertwined with the rebellion that it had to be silenced. They treated a melody like a weapon.
They understood, perhaps better than we do today, that culture isn’t separate from politics. It is the soil in which politics grows.
For decades after, the airport bore Kotoka’s name. To some, it was a fitting tribute to a soldier. To others, it was a daily reminder of a wound, a forced acceptance of a man they saw as a traitor to the Nkrumah dream.
Every tourist who landed there, every citizen who returned home, walked through a gateway named for a coup.
Now, that gateway is simply Accra International. It is an attempt to let the airport be a place of arrival and departure, not a monument to a contested past. It is an attempt to step out of the shadow of 1966.
But the ghost of that story remains. And at its center is not a politician or a general, but a boy with a guitar.
It’s wild to think that a song, born from a mermaid’s whisper on a beach, ended up tangled in a coup, a ban, and the very name of a nation’s front door. It’s a reminder that history is rarely made by presidents and parliaments alone.
Sometimes, it’s made by a young man humming a tune, a soldier with a radio, and a melody that refuses to be silenced.
Sir Victor Uwaifo never meant to start a revolution. He just wanted to play his guitar. But in Ghana, sixty years later, his riff is still echoing through the corridors of power.
A child searching for their first picture book, a university student hunting for a prescribed textbook or a reader hoping to find their next favourite novel can all begin their search at the same place: EPP BookShop at Legon City Mall.
Located at 7 Lagoon Street, off Giffard Road, the Legon branch brings together books for different ages, interests and stages of learning.
Its appeal lies in the range of titles available, making it a useful stop for families preparing children for school, students pursuing higher education and readers looking beyond the classroom.
From a Small Accra Shop to a Growing Book Business
EPP Books began in 1991 as a modest bookshop in Accra, occupying a space of no more than 20 square metres.
Over the years, it grew into a chain with branches across the West African sub-region, expanding its reach beyond its original location.
That journey reflects the continuing need for accessible books in homes, schools and educational institutions.
For many learners, textbooks and supplementary readers are essential tools, while novels and self-help books offer opportunities for entertainment, personal growth and discovery.
Books for Different Stages of Life
At the Legon branch, the selection spans preschool materials, children’s readers, school curriculum books, secondary-school textbooks and university-level titles. Customers can also browse bestselling novels and books on personal development.
EPP BookShop serves both retail and wholesale customers, giving individual readers and organisations options for purchasing books. If a particular title is unavailable on the shelves, the shop can also arrange to order it.
For residents, students and visitors in the Legon area, the branch offers more than a place to buy reading materials. It provides a practical starting point for the search for knowledge, whether that begins with a child’s first schoolbook or a reader’s next literary adventure.
In a city where daily life can move at a relentless pace, finding a place to pause, unwind and feel refreshed can be a luxury in itself.
At Niobe Salon and Spa, located within Accra’s African Regent Hotel, beauty and relaxation come together in a contemporary setting designed to make personal care an enjoyable experience.
Niobe operates across five locations in Accra, Ghana’s bustling capital, with a philosophy built around the belief that cultivating a personal style should be rewarding, relaxing and fun. Its guiding idea, that “beauty is a feeling,” places the experience of self-care at the heart of its offering.
Facial Treatments for a Refreshed Look
At the African Regent Hotel branch, the treatment menu caters to guests seeking specialised skincare and facial care.
Options include Elemis facials, CACI lifting facials, Biotec Elemis facials, microdermabrasion and peel treatments, as well as Dr Murad facials.
These services offer visitors a range of choices, whether they are looking to refresh their complexion, explore targeted skincare treatments or set aside time for a personal wellness ritual.
The variety also makes the spa an appealing option for hotel guests and Accra residents looking to incorporate professional beauty care into their routines.
The hotel’s location adds to the appeal, offering a convenient setting for visitors who want to combine a beauty appointment with a stay or other activities in the city.
Making Time for Self-Care in Accra
Niobe Salon and Spa welcomes clients during the week and on Saturdays, with Sunday hours listed separately.
However, its published schedules contain some inconsistencies, so prospective visitors should confirm opening times before making a trip.
For travellers discovering Accra or residents seeking a dedicated beauty appointment, Niobe presents an opportunity to step away from everyday demands and make time for themselves.
At its African Regent Hotel location, the emphasis is on more than appearance: it is about making the experience of looking after oneself feel restorative, personal and rewarding.
For children, a good weekend can be as simple as racing a friend, climbing onto a play structure or waiting excitedly for the next ride.
At Calabo Playground in East Legon, those small moments are at the heart of the experience.
Located on Mensah Wood Street, Calabo is a soft play and playground designed for children aged 3 to 10, giving families a dedicated space where young children can stay active, socialise and enjoy unstructured play in a secure environment.
One of the attractions is the chance to climb into a canoe and race against friends—a playful competition that can quickly turn an ordinary afternoon into a hunt for bragging rights.
Children can also explore a range of indoor and outdoor equipment, with activities including a sliding pool and train rides.
The playground is particularly suited to Accra families looking for something different from spending weekends indoors. School holidays also bring an opportunity for children to spend more time playing, learning and interacting with others.
Beyond the equipment, Calabo offers a setting for children to build confidence and friendships through play. Parents can also organise parties, while homemade snacks add to the family-friendly experience.
Entry is priced from GH¢30 per hour, making it an accessible option for families seeking a few hours of entertainment without committing to a full-day outing. Calabo operates on weekends and during school holidays, so families should plan their visits around those opening periods.
For visitors to Accra travelling with young children, Calabo offers a glimpse of the city’s family leisure scene. For local parents, it is a simple invitation to let the children run, race, laugh and play.
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